AS-3

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Inscription
Transliteration:	? iθθi
Original script:
Object:	AS-3 potsherd (pottery)
Position:	bottom
Script:	unknown
Direction of writing:	ambiguous
Letter height:	2 cm
Number of characters:	4
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	incised
Current condition:	damaged
Date of inscription:	end of the 4th-3rd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Type:	prob. mark of manufacturer
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	PID 218 i a LIR ROT-3 MLR 110 (1)
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 167

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini 1915: 120 f. Autopsied by TIR on 16^th October 2015.

Image in Pellegrini 1915: tav. II, 23 (drawing).

Incised on the narrow bottom of the vessel. The characters are well legible, covering the entire breadth of the bottom; the sequence extends over 3.5 cm. To its left (assuming that the marks should be viewed with the vessel upside-down, as is the case with most of the corresponding inscriptions from Bostel), at a distance of about 1 cm, four vertical lines crossed by one oblique line. While this second mark so far has no parallel in Bostel, the sequence is also found on AS-15, in combination with a language-encoding inscription. Cp. also AS-2. In view of its reoccurrence in the same find place, the group can be interpreted as a manufacturer's mark.

Note that in Schumacher 2004, the ceramic fragment with inscription AS-3 is said to bear characters in four separate places – a misunderstanding of Whatmough's truncated presentation of the testimonies. The other three fragments mentioned by Pellegrini (p. 121):
PID (i) b = LIR ROT-4 = EX-101
PID (i) c = LIR ROT-13 = EX-102
PID (i) d = LIR ROT-14 = EX-103
are likely to represent partially damaged examples of the same sequence .

Bibliography

LIR	Alberto Mancini, Le Iscrizioni Retiche [= Quaderni del dipartimento di linguistica, Università degli studi di Firenze Studi 8–9], Padova: Unipress 2009–10. (2 volumes)